Delays in the opening of polling stations, riots by government officials and agglomerations are part of what has happened nationwide.
Thousands of Salvadorans went out from the early hours to vote to elect 84 members of the Legislative Assembly, 262 city councils and 20 representatives of the Central American Parliament (Parlacen).
According to data from the Supreme Electoral Court (TSE) more than 5.3 million Salvadorans were summoned this Sunday to vote in the 1,595 polling stations enabled throughout the country.
Election day has passed between delays in the opening of polling stations, crowds and long queues of voters, as well as some unrest in which government officials have been involved.
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Traffic on the streets of Sant Salvador near the polling stations has been complicated, where long lines of parked cars can still be seen in the afternoon. Entire families have approached the polling stations, some with their pets included.
We list 5 things that have marked this day nationwide.
Without keeping the distance, it is located on the outskirts of the voting center of Ciutat Arce, Monsignor Romero educational complex. Photo EDH / Jonatan Funes
1. Voting centers open late
At 7 in the morning there were already long lines of Salvadorans waiting for the opening of the polling stations to be able to exercise the vote, but they were late in opening. On El Hipòdrom Boulevard, for example, considered the largest polling station, JRV members received the first ballot papers after 7:00 in the morning.
Voters had to wait more than two hours to be able to enter. A similar situation took place in polling stations in San Miguel, San Salvador, Ahuchapán and other departments where agglomerations were generated where social distancing was the greatest concern of those attending to vote. In ahuchapán there were polling stations that abrieron until the 09:45
2. Osiris Moon enters the polling station by force
The director general of Penitentiary Centers and Deputy Minister of Justice, Osiris Luna, who moved to Guaymango, Ahuachapán, to vote was caught when the force entered alongside other members of New Ideas and intervened in the installation. of the Voting Board without being accredited for it.
Voters at a Guaymango school knocked down the polling station door.
In a video posted by 106.9 FM Radio on her Twitter account, Luna is seen arguing with JRV members and making claims with a document in hand. The moment becomes tense when the government official argues with some people who claim him for having entered by force and delaying the JRV processes. Luna has been heavily criticized on social media for starring in this altercation.
Read also: MINUTE TO MINUTE: Delays and congestion in polling stations, the most important of the Electoral Day of El Salvador
Luna also arrived at the Francisco Gavidia School Center, in El Refugi, in the same jurisdiction, where he wanted to intercede because representatives of the New Ideas party will integrate the JRVs without the respective accreditation, which was questioned by the president of the Municipal Electoral Board (JEM), Aura Lissethe Herrera.
Other sources noted that the official identified himself as the party’s legal representative in Ahuachapán, however, he had to leave the site to show no credentials.
This provoked discontent among members of New Ideas, who began protesting outside the polling station, causing it to be open until 9:45 p.m.
Photo: Óscar Iraheta
3. Arrested for electoral fraud
Josué Gómez Turcios, who was identified by the PNC as a vigilante of a political party, was arrested in La Unión accused of the crime of electoral fraud. According to the police source, Turcios voted despite being excluded from the electoral roll for being convicted of another crime.
The Attorney General of, Raúl Melara, said that although he was warned that it was not his responsibility to cast his vote at the polling station, which he did not identify, the citizen ignored, so he was captured and l ‘will be charged with the crime of electoral fraud in the courts.
According to the Electoral Code, the penalty for these crimes is four to six years, but if the subjects involved in the above conduct were public officials or election officials, they will be punished with seven to ten years in prison and they will be disqualified for the exercise of office.
4. Ernesto Muyshondt expects security forces not to be used for electoral purposes
Ernesto Muyshondt, who is seeking re-election in the capital. Photo / Courtesy
The current mayor of San Salvador who is running for re-election cast his vote in the morning. The mayor said he felt confident of winning a new term at the head of the commune despite the blockade on his administration by the central government.
The call of the mayor of San Salvador, Ernesto Muyshondt was clear. That it is not used in the Police and Armed Forces for electoral purposes.
“I would expect them not to use the National Civil Police for electoral purposes. I would expect them not to use the Armed Forces today for partisan political purposes. I would expect them to still respect the results already tainted by the fraud they have generated for months. said Muyshondt. The mayor warned of the danger of using the Police and Armed Forces for electoral purposes.
4. Ernesto Sanabria warns the police
The Press Secretary of the Presidency of El Salvador, Ernesto Sabrià, was reprimanded by the National Civil Police at the Colegio Bilingüe Liceu Castella, in Lourdes Colom, la Llibertat, when he tried to exercise his vote. take photo on the pepeleta.
Attendees at the Vote Receiving Board 4137, where Sanabria cast his vote detected the shortcoming and denounced it so PNC agents intervened. The moment was recorded in a video circulating on social media.
5. Bukele calls for a vote for New Ideas
Bukele called on the people to go out and vote on something he called “Operation Finished”: Photo: @PresidenciaSV
Republican President Nayib Bukele gave a press conference in the afternoon to call for a biased vote for the ruling party in the midst of a period of electoral silence.
After the national chain arrived at the cut of the 4 in the afternoon to emit its vote in the boulevard of the Race course next to the first lady Gabriela de Bukele.
At the polling station he made no statements to the press.